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Friday, 11 July 2008

Jayne (potentially) Two-Jobs

This is going to be a post filled with woe and fret, I’m afraid. You’ll have to either fortify yourself with a nice cup of tea before continuing or choose to duck out altogether and come back tomorrow when there will hopefully be a nice non-fret post up instead.

How can I have ended up in this pickle? Desperation, that is what happened, yer Honour. It was painfully obvious that I needed a job, so I chose two – one (Job A) that appealed, and another (Job B) that I knew would be easy for me. Job B has all the advantage of a mighty corporate machine, and first interview, second interview went bam bam – in just one week all was done, and I had a job offer. Job A, bless their cottons, are not a giant corporate machine, and are taking ages to make up their minds, as in a way it’s a much more important decision for them, being a smaller company. And so here I sit and wait their final decision… yet all the while aware that Job B expects me to start in their employ rather soon. Ye Gods.

I haven’t actually signed a contract with Job B, or agreed that I was starting... yet there is this wave of assumption that reaches me even in my little town. But why would they doubt? Oh this is so stupid. What if I cannot do Job A? Should I just accept Job B? What if this is all academic and Job A doesn’t want me anyway? Job A said they’d let me know yesterday or today… and so surely before six they will end this torture?

And incidentally, Job B was the one that I thought could potentially help the novel perhaps in the long run… but thinking about it seriously, it really is a punt on a punt, and not totally convinced that it is only by working there could I get their interest… If it was all about the novel then I should get a job in a PR/ Marketing firm, or in a literacy agency, or work for a publisher’s, and even then does that guarantee an ‘in’? More than likely the last thing a busy person will want is someone they have brought in to do a job and solve a problem sidling up with ‘The Novel’ in their should-be-busy hands.

*pause for more fretting and checking mobile signal.*

I can't concentrate on anything else, so it's youtube for me until 6pm. And then I think I will cry! (Am crossing fingers for tears of happiness).

2 comments:

It sounds like you want Job A. Don't be afraid to hold out for it. You're selling your time and life to these people so you shouldn't be condemned for wanting to sell it to the place where it will be the least painful/most enjoyable.

If Job B is unwilling to wait a reasonable amount of time for you to decide then that's very telling about the environment you'd be working in - i.e. one that treats you as an employee first and a person second.

Hi Ben. I think you've summed up Job B quite well... yes, I do want Job A. I still haven't heard anything but am taking that as a sign they are still making their mind up, I know it was down to me and another, so perhaps the competition is very close. So here I sit, waiting for Monday... or perhaps I'll sit down the pub! But thanks for your advice, it's very appreciated. Cheers!

Jayne Ferst

In the 1970s a girl was born and sent to school for a crime she didn't commit. That girl finally escaped from a dull comprehensive into the lost artistic underground. Today, still wanted by her job, she survives as a writer of fortune. If you need a story, if no one else can help, and if you remember the A Team theme tune, maybe you can sing it with me.